Final Fall 2011: Visual Resume

Resume

View more presentations from J Nagle

TED Talk

Opinions through images

View more presentations from J Nagle

TED Talk

For my TED Talk, I figured I would just regurgitate the talk I gave this past spring, regarding the western world’s relations with Asia and the significance of the greater spotlight on the East. It went over well with the crowd, and I love the topic, so why not?

…

…

I can’t, huh? Well, damn.

In all honesty, at this point in time, I still haven’t found a topic that seems likely to succeed. Right now, I’m leaning towards examining the idea that “actions speak louder than words”. I want to focus on how mediums like political cartoons and graphic art give a social commentary that writers and reporters struggle to match.

The talk would explore the appeal of visual stimulation and the generation of thought via visible examples, as opposed to the influence of the written word. It would also take a look at the rise of visual mediums as representations of individual opinion, and the transition from strictly written pieces to multimedia contributions.

I’m still fleshing out the concept. Expect more detail in the near future.

 

Final Exam Questions

1. Consider the experimental techniques used by Maya Deren and create a video/slideshow/what-have-you that highlights the artistic impact these methods have on the viewer.

2. Take the subject of your TED Talk (or another topic in which you’re interested) and create a multimedia project that discusses and explores the subject in greater detail.

3. Create a Twitter account and attract as large a following as possible. The focus of the account can be whatever you believe will be the most appealing to people – satirical humor, sports commentary, etc.

Mediums

Alright, first off – this project did not turn out how I wanted. I suppose that goes without saying, but what should have been a beautiful failure became more akin to a gruesome catastrophe.

Anyhoo, the main point for this project was to key in on the everyday person’s perception of the digital identity – both the person they present to the online community, and the identities of others that are taken away during this type of social engagement.

It surprised me to no end when the group with whom I spoke had very little conscious attention to such identity. The presence of Twitter and Facebook was one taken for granted. Few admitted to giving any serious thought to how other people would perceive the things written or pictures posted.

They also didn’t really have a cohesive answer for the appeal of online engagement. They recognized that they were keeping up with the times, but they didn’t mention any sense of serious merit behind the different mediums. Several were comfortable admitting that when Twitter and Facebook are eventually challenged and surpassed, they would be all-too-willing to jump ship.

Maya Deren

When I first watched Maya Deren’s films, I thought to myself “Now here’s a woman who’s trying too hard to be artistic”. This is the type of reaction with which I normally respond to artistic vehicles with which I have little experience. In this case, it’s not film itself that eluded me; it was film that intentionally took a hatchet to the fundamentals of Hollywood productions.

My gut response was to question if Deren was more concerned with producing something meaningful, or simply sticking it to the elitists. Of course, in hindsight, I understand I was jumping the gun. As unconventional as Deren’s works are, she is, in fact, trying to produce something thought-provoking.

Of her experimental techniques, the one I found most interesting was her analysis of multiple consciousnesses. In her films, the protagonist finds herself traversing multiple levels of awareness. With each new encounter, the strands of the greater puzzle become more convoluted, until they reach a peak, at which point the plot begins its conclusion.

Deren’s attention to the separation of thought and perception can be found in the way she stitches together miniature episodes into one flowing narrative. The pieces, bizarre on their own, merge to form one dynamic whole.

In this way, Deren seems to be commenting on the human sense of consciousness. Thoughts are constantly vying for supremacy within the mind, and due to this struggle, a person can only perceive and identify so much, before the rest becomes lost.

Just a Couple Notes

So, yeah. For this project, I had a solid grasp of what I wanted to set out to do, as well as what media I wanted to use to put it all together. Well, what was initially intended to be a video took a sharp left turn when I discovered my video files of people interviewed were nowhere to be found. I can’t tell if my computer ate them or my camera went bust. Picking up the pieces, I decided to try something completely different (i.e. what was actually available to me so late in the game).

Using the magic of slides, I recalled what I learned from my interviews about people’s perceptions of digital identites and online social engagement, and turned it into a nice powerpoint. Based on the quality of my project, I believe the term “beautiful failure” is not quite as apt as “repulsive catastrophe”. Ah well…

Visual Rhetorics Project 2

For Me, or Not For Me

View more presentations from CuChulainn13

Perceiving the Future Through the Lens of the Past

After the conclusion of “Until the End of the World”, I had mixed feelings as to the film as a whole. Though the plot, and the nature of certain characters who shall remain nameless, didn’t sit well with me for various reasons, one of the things I was most attracted to was the presence of technology in the movie. Though I suppose technology is one of the first things to leap to mind when you hear the word “future”, the movie made it more engaging to consider such devices.

I suppose that, ultimately, an analysis of the movie’s ideas of communication technology and perception would have yielded more fruit back in the nineties. Sitting here in 2011, I can smugly look back and say “Wow. You certainly had some nifty (read: corny) ideas, didn’t you?” However, the heart of the matter remains unadulterated – the sense of wonder presented by the movie as inherent in perception and technology still rings true today.

The movie has a number of devices that suggest a blurring between the contemporary and the futuristic. One of the things to note is the special emphasis given to visual-oriented technology, as opposed to other sectors. For example, the movie makes no effort to present transportation in a way that is especially different from the time of its shooting. Standard methods of travel remain the same; the concepts of cars, trains, and planes in the movie are firmly lodged within the contemporary’s own notion of transportation. In other words, some forms of technology have not really advanced, whereas visual tech has experienced a great boon.

Through its numerous examples, the movie keys in on what makes the visual world so crucial to people – without a way to attract the eye, surroundings are passed swiftly and forgotten even quicker. Without a way to hold attention, an environment is treated as insubstantial by the beholder. It’s only by emphasizing what the mind registers that something manages to nestle itself within a person’s thoughts.

That’s exactly the case with technology, as seen in the movie. In numerous circumstances, the devices seen are presented in an appealing way, made to de-emphasize their nature as simple pieces of wiring and metal, and bolster the idea that they are wanted/a necessity. Several pieces, such as Claire’s GPS system or Detective Winter’s tracking program, use animated imagery to keep the eye focused. Rather than present the world in a way that any satellite or camera might bring, the programs present the world in a fictional way. In doing so, these pieces seem to blur the distinction between the actual reality, and the reality perceived by the beholder.

Going a step further, the movie also seems to use technology to downplay the severity of the world, as if to make day-to-day life more tolerable. This should come as no surprise, as it’s no secret that technology’s main purpose is to facilitate greater opportunities for people to interact and advance.

One quirky concept that falls under this umbrella is the Bounty Bear tracking system; developed in the U.S.S.R., the program features an anthropomorphic bear wandering across the world in search of the target. In reality, this cartoonish bear is the face of a bounty-hunting program that can detect anyone whom the user wishes to find… meaning the government, or just about any mercenary who cares enough, can use the tool to track down their target(s), and do gods-know-what. The idea that this sociable, seemingly-innocent bear is responsible for the capture – and probable elimination – of many fugitives was an irony I enjoyed greatly.

 

Visual Rhetorics Project 1

So, for the first project in the class, I decided to focus on the element of color. First, there’s the question of “Why color?” to answer. Simply put, color is the first aspect of an image that leaps out at me, as is the case with most other people. When I’m presented with a sight for the first time, it’s the color of what I behold that first draws my attention.

Things such as light, shadows, size, texture, and simplicity come afterwards. Even if color isn’t the most distinct feature of a sight, it’s still color that’s being perceived first, in my case. So, I decided to go with the most appealing characteristic.

As for what can be gained from taking a deeper look at color, there’s a bit more detail to that. We all have our favorite colors; when we get to know other people, that’s one of the little things you learn about others – their favorite colors. For the life of me, I can never remember asking anyone “Hey, what’s your favorite texture?” It goes beyond that, though. People are always concerned with color. Sports fans learn to revere the colors of their home teams. People of different nationalities will typically express fondness for the colors on their particular flags.

In this large-scale sense, color allows people to gain a group identity; it separates one group from another, and allows people to band together under their chosen colors. However, color’s appeal goes deeper. Artists, whether wielding pen or paintbrush, use colors to breathe life into their works. Great authors and painters have used color to invigorate the imagination. Clearly, color isn’t simply a fun little topic for very young children to play around with; there can be a great deal for adults to gain from considering color.

My approach to this project was to gain as many different approaches to color as possible. These range from artifical vs natural, to stationary vs moving, to vivid vs dull. There are obvious approaches, such as looking for brief flashes of brightness, but I wanted to run the gamut, and drink in as many sights as possible, doing so within and outside Pennsylvania, and both in rural and urban settings. Hopefully, all turned out well.

Oh, and if you’re curious as to my selection of music – I’m a big Danzig fan, and that song (and his work in general) just resonates with me.